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Delighting customers is attracting considerable attention of researchers from aruond the globe. So, the current study examines frontline employees' perceptions to perform delightful services by highlighting the effect of creative self-efficacy and intrinsic motivation through the intervention of positive psychological capital. Simple random sampling technique was applied to choose the sample. The data was gathered from different service-related brands working across Punjab, Pakistan. Partial Least Square Structural Equation Modeling (PLS-SEM) was used to test the model. The findings of this study assert that both creative self-efficacy and intrinsic motivation have a direct and indirect impact on employees' behavior to perform delightful services. The outcome of the study has significant theoretical and practical contributions.

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to study the components and service standards of delightful service by conducting a comprehensive literature review and applying the Delphi survey method. Design/methodology/approach This study conducted a three-round Delphi survey to consolidate the experience of 11 experts in implementing delightful service. To ensure the recruitment of experts who were knowledgeable in delightful service delivery, the panellists were chosen from service- and hospitality-related industries; the respondents were hotel managers, senior frontline service personnel and academic educators who were knowledgeable in both the service industry and service innovation. Findings By integrating professional experiences from both academics and hotel practitioners, we conclude that hotel facilities and amenities, environment and ambiance design and service personnel’s service delivery practices are essential elements for creating a unique and unforgettable consumer experience. Distinctive hotel facilities and ambiance provide a unique experience, which can leave memorable impressions on customers. Being able to detect customers’ emotional conditions and hidden needs through attentive and proactive service practice and providing attentive and customized service are pivotal for service personnel. Advanced service performance enables attending to customers’ personal well-being and caring for their unique needs effectively. The proposed standard for service provision exceeds customer expectations. Research limitations/implications First, the number of panellists was low, limiting the generalizability of the results. Future studies should increase the number of panellists. Second, this study focused only on the hotel industry in Taiwan. The results may not be generalizable to other hospitality industries or other countries. Future studies can duplicate this study in other hospitality industries and in other countries to broaden the understating of the elements and service standards of delightful service. Practical implications The results of this study provide a practical guideline for implementing delightful service. Hotel practitioners are advised to increase the degree of refinement, variety and attentiveness of their facilities and amenities; use sensory elements in their hotel environment and ambiance design; and advance staff members’ service skills to be more proactive, attentive, empathetic and customer-oriented. Carefully designing the core product and advancing the service delivery style can provide hotel guests with an exceptional and unique lodging experience, thus achieving delight. Originality/value This study provides a comprehensive understanding of the implementation of delightful service.

TIn a highly competitive service environment, service providers have to provide customers with delightful service experience in order to attract more customers and achieve higher customer satisfaction. Managing service experience is a critical approach for service providers to consider. Although customer experience management (CEM) has been discussed across different research disciplines, there is still no systematical and feasible way to apply CEM into real environments. This study attempts to examine the customer experience by using cluster analysis, cross tabulation test, importance-satisfaction (IS) model, and house of quality (HOQ) method for CEM. We illustrate the process using an empirical case study at a well-known café in Jakarta, Indonesia. This mechanism can help service providers design and deliver delightful serviceexperience to customers.

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to examine the essential abilities service employees need to deliver an exceptional service that delights customers and to identify effective methods to train exceptional service employees.Design/methodology/approachThe authors conducted in-depth interviews with seven senior butlers and three human resource managers from four of the most renowned five-star hotels in Taiwan. Interviews with the two groups of participants provided good triangulation and allowed us to gain different perspectives and to obtain a more holistic understanding of the research topic.FindingsThis study systematically organized the essential abilities required to deliver delightful service into three hierarchical levels: professionalism, the ability to respond to customers’ emotions and hidden needs and build bonds with them, and the ability to deliver one-stop service. The authors propose that the most effective training method is to develop a customer-oriented service climate. Such an environment will enable service employees to be naturally molded into exceptional service personnel. Several training methods are identified to build a customer-oriented service environment within a company.Research limitations/implicationsThis study focused on the staff of five-star hotels. The proposed service standards and abilities may only be applicable to high-end service providers. Furthermore, this study used only a qualitative research method (in-depth interviews) to develop a preliminary training model to foster outstanding service employees. This model can be further verified using a quantitative method and a larger number of participants in a future study.Originality/valueThis research provides contributions to the literature on delightful service and human resources management.